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In Miri, Michael J. Pollard was not convincing to me as a boy who hadn't hit puberty (he was 27 at the time). But Pollard was becoming well known back then, having had a brief recurring role on Dobie Gillis, and had been in the Broadway cast of Bye Bye Birdie. In 1967, he was C.W. Moss in the film Bonnie and Clyde.

I thought Charles Macauley was a strange choice for Jaris in "The Wolf in the Fold." He was excellent at being a stern, commanding leader of Argelius, but the Argelians were said to be so gentle and harmless that they contracted out most of their administration, because their own people were so meek and mild. Macauley wasn't meek and mild and sheeplike, making him a strange choice for a people who were described that way.

And because I want to say something positive, even though I know the question asks for something negative, I'll note that I thought Joanne Linville was really excellent as the Romulan Commander in "The Enterprise Incident."

I thought Charles Macauley was a strange choice for Jaris in "The Wolf in the Fold." He was excellent at being a stern, commanding leader of Argelius, but the Argelians were said to be so gentle and harmless that they contracted out most of their administration, because their own people were so meek and mild. Macauley wasn't meek and mild and sheeplike, making him a strange choice for a people who were described that way.

But then again, that "gentle and harmless" Argelian people still abides by the ancient law of "death by slow torture"! You have to have someone among those sheep to carry out that sentence.

Gary Lockwood, a big part of playing the character was being able to wear the silver contact lenses. Once it was discovered that he had trouble with them (Sally Kellerman didn't) it's kind of strange they didn't recast the role.

With the lenses in, he had to tilt his head back to see at all, it made him look like someone with bifocals.

The problem for me is, I've been a Trek fan since I was five years old, so Trek was the first place I ever saw most of its actors. So my image of those actors is defined by their Trek characters, and thus it's hard for me to be surprised by any of their casting.

But in retrospect, looking back on the characters after having seen them in other works: I've often found it amusing to see Charles Napier as the quintessential space hippie Adam in "The Way to Eden," since he went on to make a career playing stern, tough authority figures, basically becoming the quintessential "Herbert."

And maybe Michael Strong as Roger Korby was an odd choice, since he usually seemed to play heavies in '60s shows, and maybe that gave away the game too soon.

The most bizarre casting choice has got to be celebrity lawyer Melvin Belli as Gorgon, but I'm not sure I'd call that an interesting choice, just a painfully bad one.

__________________Christopher L. Bennett Homepage -- Site update 11/16/14 including annotations for "The Caress of a Butterfly's Wing" and overview for DTI: The Collectors

The problem for me is, I've been a Trek fan since I was five years old, so Trek was the first place I ever saw most of its actors. So my image of those actors is defined by their Trek characters, and thus it's hard for me to be surprised by any of their casting. . .

I'm sort of in the same predicament with the question. I was 15 when TOS first aired, and Trek was one of the shows airing when I had only just started to pay attention to actors' names. I'd seen Shatner several times before in Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, and even Man from UNCLE, but he didn't register with me as anyone notable until Star Trek. Skip Homeier however, I first noticed on the Outer Limits because I liked the scary makeup.

. . .I've often found it amusing to see Charles Napier as the quintessential space hippie Adam in "The Way to Eden," since he went on to make a career playing stern, tough authority figures, basically becoming the quintessential "Herbert."

I just looked at Napier's IMDB page. Star Trek is only his fifth film/tv role, his first appearance anywhere was a year earlier in 1968 as an uncredited Police Officer on Mannix.

Gary Lockwood, a big part of playing the character was being able to wear the silver contact lenses. Once it was discovered that he had trouble with them (Sally Kellerman didn't) it's kind of strange they didn't recast the role.

With the lenses in, he had to tilt his head back to see at all, it made him look like someone with bifocals.

Gary Lockwood, a big part of playing the character was being able to wear the silver contact lenses. Once it was discovered that he had trouble with them (Sally Kellerman didn't) it's kind of strange they didn't recast the role.

With the lenses in, he had to tilt his head back to see at all, it made him look like someone with bifocals.

According to These Are the Voyages (p. 89),this often-repeated story isn't true. It IS true that the lenses hurt Lockwood, but it isn't true that he had to tilt his head back to see though them.

Lockwood is quoted in the book as saying that he tilted his head back because he thought that gave him an appropriately arrogant air, since he was supposed to be playing a would-be god. The head-tilt was an intentional acting decision, not a side effect of the lenses.